2019-07-01_Southern_Living

SOUTHERNLIVING.COM / JULY 20 19

87

Watermelon-Ginger Mojitos

ACTIVE 20 MIN. - TOTAL 20 MIN.,

PLUS 1 HOUR, 15 MIN. CHILLING

SERVES 10|

1/2 cup granulated sugar

5 large fresh mint sprigs, plus

more for garnish

8 cups seedless watermelon cubes

(from 1 [7 1/2-lb.] seedless

watermelon)

3 cups (24 oz.) light rum (such as

Bacardí Superior), chilled

1 (12-oz.) bottle ginger beer,

chilled

1/2 cup fresh lime juice (from

4 limes)

Ice cubes

Small watermelon wedges,

for garnish

1. Bring 1/2 cup water and sugar to a
   simmer in a small saucepan over high.
   Simmer, stirring often, until sugar
   dissolves, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove
   from heat; add mint, and stir until
   submerged. Refrigerate until mixture
   is completely cool, 1 hour. Pour mint
   mixture through a fine wire-mesh
   strainer into a bowl; discard solids.
   Chill mint syrup until ready to use.


2. While syrup cools, place watermelon
   in a blender, and process until smooth,
   about 20 seconds. Pour through a
   fine wire-mesh strainer into a large
   measuring cup, pressing gently to
   squeeze out juice. Discard solids, and
   refrigerate 15 minutes. Repeat straining
   procedure. (You should have about
   4 cups juice.)


3. Stir together mint syrup, watermelon
   juice, rum, ginger beer, and lime juice
   in a large pitcher.


4. Pour evenly into 10 highball glasses

1850s book heralding the Bradford
watermelon as one of the finest. “Could
that be our melon?” he wondered. The
thought floated in the back of his mind
until 2012, when David Shields, a food
historian and professor at the University
of South Carolina, confirmed that fact.
Bradford knew he had to return the
melons to market.
Living in Seneca at the time—and
running his landscape business—he
just needed a little encouragement
to return to the family land. Shields
introduced him to heritage-grain guru
Glenn Roberts, through whom he met
acclaimed chef Sean Brock. The staff at
one of Brock’s restaurants at the time,
McCrady’s, helped process the first
batch of watermelon pickles. “I don’t
even know these people,” Bradford
recalls thinking. “This is a whole
different world.”
He also added a charitable arm,
Watermelons for Water, to his first
growing season, donating proceeds

from that harvest to fund hand-dug

wells for small farmers in Bolivia.

“It was important to do, and people

expected it,” he says of reviving the

family melon, “but I needed some

soul behind it.”

These days, Bradford also grows

heirloom greens and okra, but in late

summer it’s watermelon that he slices

at his dining room table, causing his

five children to thunder down the

stairs for a taste. They help in the

fields when they’re not in school,

but they haven’t yet tired of eating

the fruits of their labor, which have a

cotton candy texture, intense sweet-

ness, and white seeds.

Gesturing to one of his sons,

Bradford says, “When he gets out

on his own someday and eats his

first store-bought watermelon, he’s

gonna say, ‘Gosh, I want that old

melon back.’ ” And Bradford hopes

that memory will send his children

home to carry on the family legacy.

TASTE

of

SUMMER

Three recipes to make with

your favorite melon

Triple Threat This May, Bradford planted 3 acres of watermelons to coincide with the okra
harvest in late July. “We’ll be selling melons, okra, and pickles at once this year,” he says.